The AIADMK General Council on Monday, July 11, passed resolutions to change the party bye-laws and remove the dual leadership structure of the party, appointing Edappadi K Palaniswami as the ‘single supreme leader’ of the AIADMK. In a series of resolutions passed at the much-awaited General Council meeting, the AIADMK named EPS as the interim General Secretary of the party. The new post was created at the meeting held at Vanagaram in Chennai.
This comes as a big setback to O Panneerselvam, formerly the coordinator of the AIADMK, who has been struggling to retain his post at the top of the party. However, the Madras High Court on Monday morning disposed of his plea to stall the General Council meeting, paving the way for Edappadi K Palaniswami to be named as the singular head of the party.
At the General Council meeting, the party passed an official resolution terminating the posts of coordinator and joint-coordinator, officially doing away with the dual leadership structure in the party. Earlier, OPS and EPS held these two posts, respectively. Now, once again the post of General Secretary has been created, for which fresh elections will be held within 4 months.. Till then, EPS will lead the day-to-day affairs of the party as interim General Secretary of the AIADMK. The party also passed a resolution that a Deputy General Secretary will also be appointed, who will be selected by the party's General Secretary. The General Secretary and the Deputy Secretary will serve a term of five years. The party’s general council passed a total of 16 resolutions on Monday, including ones demanding Bharat Ratna for Periyar, Anna and J Jayalalithaa.
The General Council also changed rules for electing the General Secretary of the AIADMK. The party has said that anyone who wants to contest for the post of General Secretary has to be a member of the party for 10 years. The candidature should be proposed by ten district secretaries and seconded by the same number of district secretaries of the AIADMK.
O Panneerselvam, who has effectively been removed from any position of power within the party, gave the general council meeting a miss. In the previous AIADMK meet held on June 23, chaotic scenes were witnessed and a sidelined OPS was prompted to stage a walkout with his supporters after he opposed the single leadership structure for the party.
For the past month, the AIADMK has been witnessing a serious intra-party tussle over the issue of single-leadership and Palaniswami has the support of an overwhelming majority and Panneerselvam has been sidelined in the party. It is expected that the AIADMK may soon take action against Panneerselvam.
Ahead of the meeting on Monday, a clash broke out between supporters of OPS and EPS outside the party headquarters. The two factions, carrying AIADMK flags clashed, with TV visuals showing some persons hurling stones at each other and some men damaging vehicles parked nearby. Several supporters of OPS were seen raising slogans and forcing open doors at the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai.